Taipei City Government

The Taipei City Vocational Development Institute (VDI) has organized the event “LOHAS Station,” to be held from 14:00 to 16:00 on every Wednesday between April 10 and June 12.

The event lasts for 10 weeks and invites neighboring elders to join in a series of interactive learning course together with the institute’s students and caregiver students. The elders can find many opportunities to interact with others in the course, and through learning to improve their cognitive experience. The event intends to encourage a positive way of thinking among the elders in order to improve their self-esteem, and as a result, for the elders to live healthily, happily, and without regard to age.

Taiwan has officially joined the ranks of aged society in 2018. The elder population in Taipei city will reach 17.26% in 2019. Many elder-related necessities urgently require attention. In accordance with the industrial needs of an aged society, VDI offers courses in caregiver training and elder diet culinary training. By organizing the “LOHAS Station” event, students can interact with elders and observe them more closely to further understand the needs of an elder-related industry.

The event is designed by VDI trainers, caregiver students, and also specially invites the coaches from the Taipei Da-Tong Sports Center. All of them participated in the design of the course. The event starts on April 10 and lasts for 10 weeks, includes Taichi health exercises and performances of traditional songs. Elders will have the opportunities to participate in active and passive activities such as stretching, singing, gardening, and handcrafting. Institute students will also make healthy food to share with the elders.

Fascinating course design makes the lessons greatly entertaining for the elders. Granny Wang took a long trip on Taiwan High Speed Rail from Fengshan to join the event. In spite of feeling uncomfortable, she endured the pain of her fasciitis just to join the “LOHAS Station” event. Granny Wang has been treated by the staff to relief her pain first, and then she immediately participated in the Taichi stretching and singing activities. After the event, granny Wang felt that her fasciitis condition had been greatly relieved. She appreciates the organization of the event, but the staff on site recommended her to seek for medical assistance. Another participant, Grandpa Liu, said the stretching involves Taichi techniques and is more effective than the community stretching courses. The first event organized by the institute received great support from elders. In the future, we wish that the elders will be encouraged to join more community events and enjoy a fruitful life in retirement.